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In Ontario, a personalized licence PL8TE follows the holder to the GR8V, except in special circumstances.
Yogi Sharma — or ATU 279 when he’s on the road in his old New Yorker — would like to see this change.
Sharma, 63, is an assistant business agent with the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279, which represents the city’s bus operators at OC Transpo. He is a driver himself, 16 years on the road and the last 12 with full-time union work, which he is passionate about.
“I’m a union guy and I want to promote the union. That was the main idea. I want people to know what ATU is.”
About 10 years ago, he got his own personalized plate (ATU 279), but it wasn’t the one he really wanted. “When I was getting my plates, I wanted ATU, but they told me it was taken.”
And he knew who took it. Michel David, a fellow driver and active union member, had sewn up the plate ATU in the early 1980s. So Sharma settled for second-best, knowing that many fellow motorists would be unsure what the alphanumeric message really meant.
A couple of years ago, said Sharma, he approached David to see if he would give up the plate, even enticing his buddy with a couple of crisp $50 bills to see if he could take over the coveted ATU. Long retired, he said, David agreed, and off they went to the Ministry of Transportation office on Walkley Road.
Here, they hit the wall. They were told personalized plates could only be transferred to a spouse or family member, even though David was happy to give his up.
“I would like to give it to the president (of ATU). And let successive presidents pass it on.”
A couple of years later, Sharma took up the cause again, but with new information. David, in fact, died on Dec. 19 at age 78, said his widow, Gilberte, leaving the plate to lapse, rusting somewhere in the garage or tucked away in a forgotten corner.
So Sharma now sees the situation as even more absurd. Because neither his widow or children wanted it, ATU died with David.
“Imagine,” wrote Sharma, a proud Indian immigrant who came to Canada 40 years ago, “there may be plates out there like CANADA, O CANADA or MYCANADA, and these will all die because of MOT’s refusal to keep them revived on the road.
“Shame on them. This stupid law has to change.”
This is, in fact, MTO protocol, as explained in a written response.
“Ministry policy states that, in general, licence plate transfers are not permitted. However, certain exemptions are allowed, provided the special conditions are met and appropriate documents are submitted (i.e. spouse to spouse, deceased to estate of deceased, deceased/estate to eligible family member (spouse/parent/child)).”
The ministry held out a faint hope. While admitting transfers between friends are “not normally” permitted, the ministry said it was willing to look at the Sharma-ATU case.
(The ministry is leery about transfers because they open the door to confusion about parking fines, infractions, toll charges, fees — that attach to the plate owner, not to the vehicle.)
It isn’t hard to imagine this plate-departing situation occurring often. Personalized plates became available in Ontario in 1982 and, as of December, more than 948,290 had been issued. How many AHSUM messages await their PHINAL end?
It never fails to amaze, by the way, how we are driven around the bend by licence plates, in all their manifestations. I still get responses to a column years ago about why Ontario’s blue-and-white plates keep peeling, shredding, bubbling and just generally falling apart.
(They are guaranteed, and will be replaced free, if damage occurs within five years. And yes, they are made by inmates at a Lindsay prison.)
The rules around personalized plates, which cost at least $310, fill pages of the ministry website. Anything sexual, profane, religious or political is generally off limits and the rules can taken to the extreme.
In 2016, a Toronto man was told to change his 15-year-old plate — VI6SIX, an inside tribute to hockey and his father — because someone complained it could read as 666. In 2008, an Eastern Ontario minister needed her MPP’s help and divine intervention to secure her The Rev2 message.
Sharma is right. There needs to be an easier way for a willing donor to transfer a personal plate to another person, relative or not.
Among other things, he asks, is the ministry not losing PILE$ of revenue?
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com.
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
Yogi Sharma — or ATU 279 when he’s on the road in his old New Yorker — would like to see this change.
Sharma, 63, is an assistant business agent with the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279, which represents the city’s bus operators at OC Transpo. He is a driver himself, 16 years on the road and the last 12 with full-time union work, which he is passionate about.
“I’m a union guy and I want to promote the union. That was the main idea. I want people to know what ATU is.”
About 10 years ago, he got his own personalized plate (ATU 279), but it wasn’t the one he really wanted. “When I was getting my plates, I wanted ATU, but they told me it was taken.”
And he knew who took it. Michel David, a fellow driver and active union member, had sewn up the plate ATU in the early 1980s. So Sharma settled for second-best, knowing that many fellow motorists would be unsure what the alphanumeric message really meant.
A couple of years ago, said Sharma, he approached David to see if he would give up the plate, even enticing his buddy with a couple of crisp $50 bills to see if he could take over the coveted ATU. Long retired, he said, David agreed, and off they went to the Ministry of Transportation office on Walkley Road.
Here, they hit the wall. They were told personalized plates could only be transferred to a spouse or family member, even though David was happy to give his up.
“I would like to give it to the president (of ATU). And let successive presidents pass it on.”
A couple of years later, Sharma took up the cause again, but with new information. David, in fact, died on Dec. 19 at age 78, said his widow, Gilberte, leaving the plate to lapse, rusting somewhere in the garage or tucked away in a forgotten corner.
So Sharma now sees the situation as even more absurd. Because neither his widow or children wanted it, ATU died with David.
“Imagine,” wrote Sharma, a proud Indian immigrant who came to Canada 40 years ago, “there may be plates out there like CANADA, O CANADA or MYCANADA, and these will all die because of MOT’s refusal to keep them revived on the road.
“Shame on them. This stupid law has to change.”
This is, in fact, MTO protocol, as explained in a written response.
“Ministry policy states that, in general, licence plate transfers are not permitted. However, certain exemptions are allowed, provided the special conditions are met and appropriate documents are submitted (i.e. spouse to spouse, deceased to estate of deceased, deceased/estate to eligible family member (spouse/parent/child)).”
The ministry held out a faint hope. While admitting transfers between friends are “not normally” permitted, the ministry said it was willing to look at the Sharma-ATU case.
(The ministry is leery about transfers because they open the door to confusion about parking fines, infractions, toll charges, fees — that attach to the plate owner, not to the vehicle.)
It isn’t hard to imagine this plate-departing situation occurring often. Personalized plates became available in Ontario in 1982 and, as of December, more than 948,290 had been issued. How many AHSUM messages await their PHINAL end?
It never fails to amaze, by the way, how we are driven around the bend by licence plates, in all their manifestations. I still get responses to a column years ago about why Ontario’s blue-and-white plates keep peeling, shredding, bubbling and just generally falling apart.
(They are guaranteed, and will be replaced free, if damage occurs within five years. And yes, they are made by inmates at a Lindsay prison.)
The rules around personalized plates, which cost at least $310, fill pages of the ministry website. Anything sexual, profane, religious or political is generally off limits and the rules can taken to the extreme.
In 2016, a Toronto man was told to change his 15-year-old plate — VI6SIX, an inside tribute to hockey and his father — because someone complained it could read as 666. In 2008, an Eastern Ontario minister needed her MPP’s help and divine intervention to secure her The Rev2 message.
Sharma is right. There needs to be an easier way for a willing donor to transfer a personal plate to another person, relative or not.
Among other things, he asks, is the ministry not losing PILE$ of revenue?
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com.
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
